Honduran Coup Continues

"The Institute has served as a bridge between the nation's political parties and all civil society groups to help Venezuelans forge a new democratic future..." IRI President stupidly admitting to US involvement in the 2002 coup, hours before it ended and President Chavez returned.

While American news media is largely ignoring the Honduran coup, or endorsing it (CNN), the rest of the world is following this tragedy to see what the Great Debater will do. Obama of course is playing the imperial balancing act of seeming to not support the new military government while also bankrolling it.

The three coups to occur in the Western hemisphere during the new millennium have all been sponsored by the US taxpayers and elected officials. In 2002 the government of Hugo Chavez was overthrown by elements of the military and civilian organizations who immediately installed their big business candidate and disbanded Congress. President Bush applauded until Chavez was returned to power by supporters. The US is still covertly funding the same groups there.

In 2004 the State Department, and covert funders to be mentioned in a moment, organized a coup against President Aristide of Haiti. As paramilitaries armed in the Dominican Republic made their way to Port Au Prince, State Department officials threatened Aristide's family, loaded him on a plane, and dumped him in the Congo. He was not returned to power and UN troops were used to "pacify" the civilian population.

On the 28^th of June, soldiers of the Honduran military broke into the President's residence, killed his security guards, and took him captive. They dumped him in Costa Rica. There has been a media blackout, with journalists and government officials who supported the elected President kidnapped and beaten, and immediate protests from inside Honduras and from the international community.

The Honduran constitution, dating to the 1980s and Reagan's Dirty Wars down south, contains a provision that says it can never be rewritten. How convenient. Our own Constitution, as American readers should be aware, allows for a full-rewrite of the Constitution if two thirds of the states call for a Constitutional Assembly.

President Zelaya intended to pose a preliminary ballot question, to ask the people of Honduras whether they would like to vote on convening a Constitutional Assembly in November. The Honduran Supreme Court, and other elite actors, decided this was a topic worth killing and destroying the pretense of a civilian government over. So they ordered the military, the military ostensibly under Zelaya's command, to overthrow the President.

Besides the millions the US gifts to the Honduran military every year, there are covert funding mechanisms to supporting elite attempts to overthrow popular governments. The National Endowment for Democracy was created in 1983 by Congress to act as a private organization, using taxpayer dollars, and beholden to no oversight. Several other non-partisan and non-profit groups, including USAID and International Republican Institute, work the same way and all have been heavily implicated in the two other coups this decade, just as they were in the 1980s. The State Department has assured Honduran coup makers they will still receive $49 million from USAID this year. It's for "democracy promotion."

So far Secretary Clinton has refrained from calling this coup illegal. A formal declaration of illegality would immediately end US subsidies for the Honduran military, halt the $49 million for democracy, and bring scrutiny to covert funding. Not calling the Honduran coup illegal only shows that President Obama's White House is complicit in this crime against humanity. Obama has denounced the coup formally, yet the State Department says they knew it was going to happen, did not tell Zelaya, and continues to meet with the coup government.

There is still a national curfew in place, despite the coup government's claims to the contrary. Yesterday, the 13^th of July, two political leaders who supported Zelaya were assassinated by the coup government. Roger Bados and Ramon Garcia were killed by the Honduran military. An unknown number of protesters have been injured and killed. Nearly all international journalists have been expelled from the country.

Barak and Hillary have sided with the military coup and merely called for negotiations. With their support, the Honduran coup government has made clear that negotiations over Zelaya's return can proceed only under the following circumstances. This is a major score for elite thugs the world over. Expect to see more violence and repression from the south, as well as an influx of refugees to the US. 1980s retro, back with a vengeance. Say bye bye to the political capital we earned by electing the Great Debater.

1. Zelaya can return to the presidency, but not to power. The presidency and the exercise of power are two different things.
2. Zelaya must not pursue any plans to reform the Constitution or promote polls or referendums that give voice to the people.
3. Zelaya must distance himself substantially from President Chávez. "This is essential", they said.
4. Zelaya must share governance with the Congress and those in the coup regime until the elections in November.
5. Zelaya must give amnesty to all those involved in the coup.

Source Numero Uno: Eva Golinger Postcards from the Revolution